Douglas County Sheriff’s officers recovered a bicycle and a loaded handgun Monday morning behind Dollar General in North Lawrence after a theft was reported about 6 a.m. from a yard, said Undersheriff Steve Hornberger.

A man in the 1400 block of North 1700 Road, just outside the city limits, saw someone stealing items from the front yard and chased the suspect away. The reporting party last saw the suspect behind the Dollar General store, 1001 N. Third St., but officers did not find the suspect. Hornberger said incident was still under investigation, including whether the gun was possibly stolen or belonged to the individual being chased.

In other crime news from the weekend:

• Lawrence police arrested a 33-year-old Lawrence woman Sunday afternoon on suspicion of identity theft after an 85-year-old man alleged someone opened a cell phone account in his name without his permission. Sgt. Trent McKinley, a police spokesman, said the woman told officers she had the victim’s consent to open the account in his name. She posted $2,000 bond later Sunday and was given notice to appear in court May 14. Douglas County prosecutors are reviewing the case.

• A Lawrence police officer arrested a 21-year-old Lawrence man about 3 a.m. Monday on suspicion of identity fraud, obstruction and unlawful use of identification after the man handed the officer a Social Security card determined to be fraudulent, McKinley said. Officers were talking to the man after they were called to a noise disturbance in the 2400 block of Cedarwood Drive. Prosecutors Monday charged the man, Martin Olguin Hernandez, with one count of identity theft,

• A man received staples in his head at Lawrence Memorial Hospital after a disturbance at a party Saturday night in the 400 block of East 11th Street, McKinley said. An intoxicated man was asked to leave the party before 11 p.m., and while he was yelling at people on the porch one person fell off the porch and landed on the suspect’s pit bull, which angered the suspect and the dog, McKinley said. The suspect began punching people, including the man who later went to the hospital. McKinley said Monday police were still investigating the incident, and no one had been arrested.

I was at a wedding reception years ago when the bride, still in her wedding dress, lost her balance and fell off the porch railing she was sitting on. She landed on the resident dog, a border collie that was snoozing below in the shade. Bride couldn't get up and the dog she landed on was howling piteously but you couldn't see him because of that huge dress. You had to be there.
Neither was hurt.

"one person fell off the porch and landed on the suspect’s pit bull, which angered the suspect and the dog,"

C'mon, George...use the spell check and don't profile people's dogs especially when you include the dog's feelings as a fact but don't substantiate them by noting what the dog said or did. Journalism 101...

pitbulls get a bad reputation, and of course they do lifetime damage whenever an idiot owner rasies one up to be a guardian. On the other hand, drunk people falling on the poor K-9s, well leave it a judge and a jury of peers.